Your (read: my...and probably yours too) favorite singer Adele had a huge year, and thanks to TIME she also has a new cover story where she reflects on all the record-shattering sales and critical-acclaim with her signature wit and tell-it-like-it-is honesty.

How am I supposed to write a real record if I’m waiting for half a million likes on a f—-ing photo? That ain’t real.

— Adele, TIME Jan. 2016

While her third studio album (the runaway success 25) proved to be a massively well-received record without any features or big-name guest appearances, Adele seems to have tapped into the recipe for her success: packaging, not branding.

While personal branding has become an integral part of being a recording artist, Adele dislikes industry jargon. “I don’t like that word,” she says of “brand.” “It makes me sound like a fabric softener, or a packet of crisps. I’m not that. But there’s personality in an artist, and if you’re expecting people to let you in and give themselves to you, you have to be a whole package. I feel like some artists—and this isn’t shading any artist, just me trying to come up with my own explanation—the bigger they get, the more horrible they get, and the more unlikable. And I don’t care if you make an amazing album—if I don’t like you, I ain’t getting your record. I don’t want you being played in my house if I think you’re a bastard.